Wine Jug (Oinochoe)

The expanded trade routes of early Greece led to a wide-spread exchange of cultural and artistic styles. This wine jug (oinochoe) from Rhodes, which stood at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, provides a particularly rich example of this exchange. It is painted in what has been called the Wild Goat style, which evolved in East Greece during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE as a direct result of increased contact with the East. The three distinct registers of this oinochoe reflect the incorporation of varied motifs during the Orientalizing period: in addition to wild goats, the two upper registers feature mythological animals, including a griffin and a sphinx, while the lower register incorporates an exotic floral motif.